Bill would allow hospital doctors to work until 70

Doctors in management positions such would have to forgo that position and be regular working physicians.

Male doctor, female patient.
(photo credit:Thinkstock/Imagebank)

A bill to allow hospital physicians who want to continue working after the
mandatory retirement age of 67 will be tabled on Sunday by Kadima MK Rachel
Adatto as partial relief to the growing shortage of doctors.

According to the bill, if the employer thought the
67-year-old physician was fit enough to continue working and the doctor agreed,
he or she could continue until age 70. However, doctors in management positions
such as department chairmen would have to forgo that position and be regular
working physicians, according to the bill.

Adatto, who is a gynecologist
by profession and before joining the Knesset was a senior administrator at
Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, will present the bill with Knesset
Labor, Welfare and Health Committee chairman MK Haim Katz (Likud).

Adatto
said the shortage of physicians is one of the problems that have brought about a
decline in the health system.

Instead of going into forced retirement,
they can contribute their great experience in public hospitals. While the bill
will not solve the shortage, it is a way to help cope with it, she
said.

Some of the health funds, especially those which base their service
on independent physicians, already allow them to work until age 70 if they
wish.

There are 3.4 doctors per 1,000 Israeli residents, which is lower
than the OECD average.

By 2020, the rate is due to drop to 2.73 per
1,000, even though a new medical school in Safed has opened and the number of
medical students in the other faculties has expanded. This is due to the fact
that it takes seven to 15 years to produce a trained physician.

Eidelman
said that during the negotiations of the 2011 doctors’ strike, the possibility
of extending service beyond retirement age was raised, but the employers did not
agree because they feared more senior doctors would cost them
more.

Deputy Health Minister MK Ya’acov Litzman agreed with the idea a
year and a half ago and continues to do so now, the ministry said.